Upholstery material

ABSTRACT

A novel upholstery material for furniture, automobiles and the like is composed of a plurality of identical discrete sections of leather, synthetic plastic or textile material. Adjacent ones of these sections are sewn together and have strips of piping interposed in the seams connecting them. Other features of the novel material are also disclosed.

United States Patent 1191 Ramon Oct. 21, 1975 [5 UPHOLSTERY MATERIAL 2,381,860 8/1945 Baggott 161/37 ,4 4, 4 7 'l h [761 Gas-mm Manuel Carreras Ramon, 3,158,323 4131? iii/1ST. .1 iii/ii Cane Espronceda, 4, Madrid, 3,563,834 2/1971 Uidan Spain 3,661,689 5/1972 Spanier Filed: p 1973 3,746,602 7/1973 CarOll 161/37 [21] Appl' N 350893 Primary Examiner-Mayer Weinblatt Assistant Examiner-Edith R. Buffalow [30] Foreign Application Priority Data Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Michael S. Striker Apr. 14, 1972 Spain 401774 52 u.s.c1. 112/408; 5/356; 428/61; [57] ABSTRACT 428/ A novel upholstery material for furniture, automobiles 1 h Cl B32b B32b 1332b and the like is composed of a plurality of identical dis- Fleld Search 161/36, 44, 48, 50, 99, crete sections of leather, synthetic plastic or textile /3 /9 91-2, material. Adjacent ones of these sections are sewn to- 112/440, 441 gether and have strips of piping interposed in the seams connecting them. Other features of the novel References Clted material are also disclosed.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/1935 Kantrow 161/37 6 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures Sheet 1 of2 US. Patent 0a. 21, 1975 Sheet2of2 3,913,509

US. Patent Oct. 21, 1975 UPHOLSTERY MATERIAL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally toan article of manufacture, andin particular. to a novel upholstery material.

Many types of upholstery materials are known and generally come under one of three categories, namely SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is 'a general object of the present invention to provide a novel upholstery material which affords such a quilting effect and avoids the disadvantages of the prior art.

More especially, it is an object of the invention to provide such a novel material which eliminates the need for manually producing the quilting effect during the actual upholstering operation, as was heretofore the case.

An additional object of the invention is to provide such a novel material which is of great strength, an important requirement in upholstery materials.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a material which affords improved ventilation and thereby increases the comfort of a user of an article that is upholstered with the novel material.

In keeping with these objects, and others which will become apparent hereafter, one feature of the invention resides, as a novel article of manufacture, in an upholstery material which comprises a plurality of identical discrete sections, adjacent ones of which are connected with one another.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of the front side of my novel upholstery material;

FIG. 2 is a section taken on line A-B of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an exploded view, showing one section of the material in FIG. 1 from the blind side, together with v the associated strips of piping;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective, showing a portion of the material in FIG. 1 from the blind side; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary side elevation, showing the juncture between sections of the material in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The drawing shows in FIGS. 1-5 an exemplary embodiment of the invention. The illustrated upholstery material is composed of a plurality of identical sections 1. The illustrated shape of the sections is shown only way of example, as evidently any desired shape may be chosen. These sections 1 are sewn together (although they could also be otherwise connected) along the seams 2-which pass through inwardly turned portions 2a of each section 1 (see especially FIGS 2 and 3). The term inwardly refersto. the fact that the portions 2a are turned toward that side of the material which in use will be concealed, i.e. the blind side.

In the illustrated embodiment,,the adjacent sections 1 have interposed between .them respective strips of piping, designated with reference numeral 3. Just as the sections 1, the strips 3 may be made of leather, synthetic-plastic material, or textile material, that is of any of the materials which are customarily used for upholstery-purposes. The length of the strips 3 is greater than the edge length of thesections 1, i.e. the length of the portions 2a, so that free end portions 4 of the strips 3 are not stitched to the respective'portions 2a but instead are also turned inwardly to the blind side of the material, as is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. In the illustrated embodiment any four sections 1 always form a juncture with one another; It is at this juncture that the free end portions 4 of the strips 3 are turned inwardly, as clearly shown 'in FIG. 4. I

Also located at each such juncture is a quilting button 5 which is disposed at the front side, that is the side which in use of the material will be exposed to view. A thread or cord 6 is connected with the shank of each button 5 and is passed to the blind side of the material (see FIGS. 4 and 5), where it is secured to the free end portions 4 of the strips 3, by tying, sewing or the like.

The thus obtained upholstery material can be used in the same manner in which a non-quilted material is used, i.e. placed upon the surface to be upholstered and secured in place, and will immediately and without further work of any kind produce a quilted effect. Moreover, the appearance of this quilted effect will be neat and uniform, because all sections 1 are of identical shape and size. The previous time-consuming step of inserting and fastening the quilting buttons during the upholstery operation, is eliminated.

The piping strips 3 can be made by simply folding a strip of material in half transversely to its elongation, or

they can have piping cord inserted into them. Either of these possibilities is known to the art. Evidently, their width, color and the like can be chosen as desired.

It should be understood that the upholstery material according to the invention has the further advantage of being more comfortable in use than one-piece materials which are quilted during the actual upholstery operation. Such materials are applied to the surface in question, and when the quilting buttons are subsequently inserted the material is drawn quite tight at each button location because the thread connected with the botton shank is secured to the surface in question and pulls the button inwardly towards this surface. The upholstery material therefore cannot readily yield and accommodate itself to the anatomy of a user, unlike the material according to the present invention where no such restraint exists because the buttons 5 are connected only to the material itself, and not to the underlying surface that is being upholstered. Moreover, the interposition of the piping strips 3 provided for a degree of ventilation that is not attainable with conventional one-piece upholstery materials, which is of particular advantage if th e novel material is used'for the upholstery of seats in motor or other vehicles where the user is often un-' able for long periods of time to change his position on a hot'seat. I

'It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of materials differing from the types described above.-

While the-invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a'novel upholstery material, it

is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way fromflthe spirit of the present invention. Without further-analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that'others can by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without omit-ting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.

I What is claimed as new and desired to be protected tions are of textile material.

stery material; comprising avplurality 'of identical discrete sections selected from the group consisting of leather, synthetic plastic material, and textile material; independent fastening means connecting adjacent ones of 'said sections with one another; and strips of piping selected from said group, interposed between adjacent ones of said sections and stitched to the same.

2. An article as defined in claim 1, wherein said adja cent sections have respective adjacent marginal portions of identical length; and 'wherein said strips of piping' are longer than said marginal portions and have respective free end portions extending to a blind side of said upholstery material.

thread secured to said button, extending through said juncture to said blind side, and connected with respective ones of said free end 'portions.

4. An article as-defined in claim 1, wherein said sections are of natural leather.

5. An article as defined in claim 1, wherein said sections are of synthetic plastic material.

6. An article as defined in claim 1, wherein said sec- 

1. As a novel article of manufacture, an upholstery material for use on furniture and the like, said upholstery material comprising a plurality of identical discrete sections selected from the group consisting of leather, synthetic plastic material, and textile material; independent fastening means connecting adjacent ones of said sections with one another; and strips of piping selected from said group, interposed between adjacent ones of said sections and stitched to the same.
 2. An article as defined in claim 1, wherein said adjacent sections have respective adjacent marginal portions of identical length; and wherein said strips of piping are longer than said marginal portions and have respective free end portions extending to a blind side of said upholstery material.
 3. An article as defined in claim 2, wherein several of said adjacent sections form with one another a juncture; further comprising a button overlying said juncture at an outer side of said upholstery material; and a thread secured to said button, extending through said juncture to said blind side, and connected with respective ones of said free end portions.
 4. An article as defined in claim 1, wherein said sections are of natural leather.
 5. An article as defined in claim 1, wherein said sections are of synthetic plastic material.
 6. An article as defined in claim 1, wherein said sections are of textile material. 